In coating the body of an automobile, a body inner plate including a center pillar is coated with the front door and the rear door being open, and then, the front door and the rear door are closed so that a body outer plate including outer panels of the front and rear doors is coated. Patent Document 1 describes that before coating of an outer panel of a vehicle body, suspended paint mist remaining in the body is released to the outside with the doors being open, and then the doors are closed so that the body outer panel is coated.
In coating the body outer panel, a laminated paint film including, for example, a metallic base paint film, a coloring base paint film, and a transparent clear paint film is formed. Regarding such a laminated paint film, Patent Document 2 describes that a lightness L* value of the metallic base paint film and a visible light transmittance of the coloring base paint film are defined in predetermined ranges in order to reduce color variations due to thickness variations, a frame phenomenon occurring in an edge portion, and a change in hue caused by polish repairs, and to obtain brightness and depth.